


canned corn soup

by grayscale



Category: Johnny's Entertainment, NewS (Band)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-28
Updated: 2019-08-28
Packaged: 2020-09-28 04:53:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,364
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20420225
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/grayscale/pseuds/grayscale
Summary: Shige is intensely nervous about having to share a dressing room alone with Koyama and Tegoshi.





	canned corn soup

**Author's Note:**

> This is based on a scene in chapter seven of _Pink & Grey_; I haven't seen the movie so I don't know if it appears there or not. At any rate, Shige describes the main character's awkwardness so vividly and effectively that I couldn't help but wonder if he had been in that situation before himself! Set sometime during 6-member NEWS's existence. 
> 
> (Originally posted on LJ in May 2016)

Shige isn't sure what god he offended in his previous life to have found himself in this position. Sure, it makes sense that since there are small dressing rooms in this particular venue, the group has been divided in half, three to a dressing room, and of course he can understand that an easy way to divide them is in name order, with the first dressing room being assigned to himself, Koyama, and Tegoshi, while the second dressing room goes to Nishikido-kun, Massu, and Yamashita-kun, but the end result is something far less straightforward than it sounds. While nothing is out in the open yet, Koyama and Tegoshi have been making eyes at one another suspiciously frequently for the past few weeks, and Shige is intensely nervous about having to share a dressing room alone with them. He's heard the horror stories from senpai and kouhai alike, he's been in Johnny's long enough to have heard shouts of shock and alarm followed by admonitions to _lock the damn door next time!_, and heck, before Kusano had been removed from the group and everything had gone to hell in Shige's personal love life, he'd even had his own close calls with being walked in on here and there. And so now, as he sets his bag down on the counter and eyes his groupmates suspiciously, he feels as if he can't ever let his guard down, or else be subjected to something he most definitely doesn't want to see. 

For the time being, things seem to be relatively PG; they're doing that thing where they talk while looking intently into one another's eyes again, which is weird, but not that uncomfortable as long as they're not drawing Shige into the conversation. Koyama reaches out to gently push a lock of Tegoshi's hair out of his face as he asks if Tegoshi wants Koyama to go get him some food and bring it back to the dressing room, as if Tegoshi is an invalid who can't go get it himself, or something, but Tegoshi says he's not hungry and asks Koyama if he wants to warm up together. Rehearsal isn't set to start for another hour, but Shige figures if they're preparing for work, hopefully that will keep them out of trouble, and so after he sets out his stuff at his spot at the mirror and bundles up in a sweatshirt and a scarf, he goes off in search of a snack himself. 

Unfortunately, the catering hasn't been set up yet (they've arrived at the venue after lunchtime but before dinner), so Shige finds himself poking around for vending machines that stock anything other than bottled juice. It takes a good ten minutes in the freezing hallways and as many vending machines, but eventually, he finds one with a couple soup options, which, while unappealing, are better than going hungry until their dinner break, at best in a few hours, but more likely much later due to rehearsal running late (and most probably due to Shige making mistakes and ruining everything like he always does). And so, after a few more moments of deliberation, he choses an inoffensive-seeming can of corn soup, tossing it back and forth between his hands at first to mitigate the extreme warmth of the metal as he wanders back towards his dressing room. 

When he returns, Koyama and Tegoshi are sitting on the floor of the dressing room together doing warmup stretches. They seem closer to one another than strictly necessary, but Shige isn't one to judge, and so he avoids making eye contact and goes back to his seat-- not that eye contact would even be possible with the way they're looking into one another's eyes like there's no one else in the room. Heck, Shige thinks annoyedly as he pops open the can of soup and takes a drink, they probably haven't even realized that he's back in the room. 

Sure enough, Koyama seems to register the noise of the can opening in a delayed reaction, and looks up to blink at Shige as if he might be an alien from Mars before the existence of an entire world outside of Tegoshi seems to come back to him, and he smiles vaguely at Shige. "Shige-chan, come warm up with us?" he bids after a moment, gesturing at the open floor space beside them, and while Shige doesn't really know if it's such a good idea to join in on what was previously clearly a private moment, but he doesn't like to turn down invitations when he's already the least popular and worst at making friends in the group, even if it's only Koyama. 

And so, "sure," he replies, moving across the room to sit beside Koyama on the floor with his can of soup, awkwardly unsure whether he ought to be attempting to drink and warm up at the same time, or if he ought to focus on drinking and then warming up, or if there really is a right answer at all (probably not, he knows, but it's hard to not feel like he's always making the wrong choices about everything), so he ends up awkwardly half stretching for a moment between sips of soup and feeling extremely out of place when Koyama and Tegoshi go back to looking meaningfully into one another's eyes a moment later. 

He's not really sure what's going to happen, but he has a bad feeling when, just about the time he finishes off his soup, Tegoshi turns directly to face Koyama with a quiet, "Kei-chan--" and a look in his eyes that Shige doesn't think he's ever seen before, and when Koyama looks back at him with equal intensity, something about it makes Shige so strongly uncomfortable that he doesn't know what to do besides suddenly pretend to be extremely engaged in trying to get the last bits of corn out of the can. It's a bit awkward considering that there's actually nothing left in the can, but it can't possibly be more awkward than watching what's unfolding in front of him. 

However, there's only so long he can really effectively use that excuse, and when he eventually lowers his head, he's alarmed to find that Tegoshi has practically moved into Koyama's lap and is now kissing him-- and rather aggressively, in Shige's opinion, for the fact that up until now he wasn't even sure that there was anything concrete going on between the two of them. He coughs into his hand in hopes of reminding them that he's still present, but to no avail; if anything, Tegoshi's kissing becomes more involved, and the way Koyama moves his hand to thread his fingers through Tegoshi's hair, angling him closer. 

Shige has been in Johnny's long enough to know that this sort of happening isn't uncommon, but it really ought to be, he thinks bitterly as he tries to bury his face inside of his scarf, pulling it up to hide his rapidly reddening cheeks and ears. After all, they're a group, and Shige is going to have to work with Tegoshi and Koyama for the rest of forever, and he knows that at least for the rest of the day, if not longer, he's not going to be able to look at them without getting embarrassed. Heck, even years from now, he thinks, maybe Tegoshi and Koyama will look back on this fondly, but Shige is dreading his future self remembering the agony and embarrassment that he's feeling now. 

But for the time being, there's really nothing he can do, and so after waiting another few minutes to see if they stop, he eventually stands, moving across the room to give them some privacy and crumpling the soup can in his fist, as if he can take out his feeling of awkwardness that way. It doesn't particularly change how he feels, but still, he can't help but feel a small sense of satisfaction when, a moment later, he throws the can into the trash bin with such vehemence that the noise makes Tegoshi and Koyama jump. The soup was so-so, but, he supposes, the can was good for something, after all.


End file.
